The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-06-04
CALIFORNIA ROMANCE.
How Two Hem who Began Life 70
gothsr Became Deadly 1nemisA

"
How Two Hem who Began Life 70
gsthsr Became Deadly 1nsmisA
A New York letter says: Their
are not many instances. outside
the realm of. fiction, of the relent
less enmity that would lead one
man to shoot another in obedience
to a vow to kill on sight made ten
years previously in the heat of pas
sion, but the information that comes
from the Transvaal country in
South Africa, of the shooting of
G. X. Hobbs-old &c. x" as the
California boys know him-by JEFF
ferson McClelland is the sequel to
the story that makes the unfortu-
nate occurrence q romance. Both
of these men were among the stur-
dy pioneers who made the days of
'49 on the Pacific Slope the greatest
epoch in its history. Hobbs, and
perhaps McClelland as we'll, drifted
out there from Missouri, when Geo.
Hearst, now senator, VIM. NJ. Lent
and a dozen men of the same type
left the banks of the Mississippi
for the gold-laden shores of the
Pacific.
The strong ties that are formed
between men that are sharing the
hardships of such a life as was led
in California in those days made
Hobbs and McClelland the firmest
Of friends. The former, not false
to the career of a miner and pros
pector, and after passing through
all its vicissitudes, embraced his
first opportunity to settle down as
a ranchman, and early in the sixties
was the owner of the finest property
in the San Jose valley. The pres
ent town of San Jose was then only
a hamlet. There he built himself
palatial residence, married a Mex
lean wowan whom he had met in
one of the mining camps, and was
soon the head Of . considerable
family. He devoted himself to his
ranch and kept out of mining spec
ulations. As the fortunes of the
country progressed Hobbs advanced
in wealth and influence, and in
1875 he was the leading man in his
county, politically and otherwise.
1t was he who made such q brilliant
fight to make c. 7. Ryland govern
or in 1876, when William Irwin
captured the prize.
The position which Hobbs had
made for himself in life, and the
wealth he had amassed, gave as
surance Of peace and plenty for his
increasing years had he kept on in
the same path. But he didn't.
Fairy tales of the untold wealth of
the Bodie and Mono districts were
on every tongue in Frisco. The
pauper Of to-day was the rich man
of the morrow. It seemed that one
had only to climb into the lap of
fortune in order to sit there stalled
in by riches for the remainder of
his life. Hundreds went up into
the mountains, laid out a mine,
listed its stock in the San Francisco
Exchange, and pocketed thousands
by the transaction. The craze
stirred up the old-time feeling in
Hobbs for the excitement in his
former life, and &C. X" was once
more a familiar figure in the stock
board. He became president Of the
Booker Mining Company sn3 sunk
half his fortune in It: next he
mortgaged his ranch at San Jose to
go into another speculation, and
hat resulted in his losing his house.
Finally, Hobbs drifted into the
enterprise out of which sprang the
dispute that has cost him his life
out in Africa. James Morgan of
San Francisco, was ct the head of
a syndicate that was trying to de-
velop the Mammoth mining district
in Mono county, where fabulous
riches were said to be 'in sight"
"Jim" Cross, who is now living in
luxurious ease at the Hoffman
House in this city, was the super
intendent of these mines. and Jeff"
McClelland turned up as his fore
man. 1t was q strange fortune as
we'll rs we'll a. an i'll one that in
duced Hobbs to invest several
thousand dollars in the stock, and
afterward to make an inspection of
the mine. Jeff" McClelland, who
had spent the intervening years on
the Comstock lode, had also bought
some of the stock, and when Hobbs
left for San Francisco he carried
with him 1000 shares to sell for
McClelland's benefit. The latter
expected to realize @25, 600, but
when the Wells, Fargo 4 Co. stage
returned to Mono there was only
$4,000. McClelland charged Hobbs
with defrauding him Of $4,000. A
bitter enmity between the two men
ensued, and it was known through
out California that should they
ever meet one of them would have
to die.
The same curious fate that had
brought the two men together in